Rhodes W1 is one of Gary Rhodes flagship restaurant and brasseries based inside The Cumberland Hotel in London. The restaurant has a Michelin star so expectations were high. The restaurant is fine dining, while the brasseries is more informal. We elected for the restaurant so we could experience cooking at its finest.
As we expected, we weren’t disappointed.
We began with roasted Scottish scallops and warm cep panna cotta. The scallops were served with pickled beetroot, braised tongue, trompette mushrooms and quails’ egg. It was quite a mix of flavours but it worked amazingly well. The scallops were cooked perfectly and worked well with the tongue.
The panna cotta was served with cauliflower cous cous, hazelnut biscuit, berkswell cheese and hazelnut foam. This was a much lighter dish, and was divine. The panna cotta was effortless, as was the cous cous. The foam had a delicious nutty flavour which was strange with the foam texture. Both worked really well.
Main course was sea trout and beef. The cider poached sea trout was served with chicken oysters, confit chicken wings, and apple and sea purslane. The trout could have still been swimming that morning it was so fresh. The whole dish was light, flavoursome and worked well.
The roasted Cornish beef came with braised ox cheek, globe artichokes, crosnes and red wine jus. The beef was delicate yet full of flavour. It was succulent, perfectly prepared, well-seasoned and ate really nicely. The ox cheek just fell apart, and tasted really nice.
Dessert was chocolate cremeux and pecan and maple parfait. The chocolate was extremely light and very sweet, and came with salted peanut butter ice cream and bitter chocolate and lime. I have never had lime with chocolate, but I will be again!
The pecan and maple parfait was served with poached pear, muscovado sponge and parkin gel. Poached pear is something of a favourite of mine, but I’m often reluctant to order it because it can go so wrong. No such worries here, the pear was soft and rich, while the parfait was light and fluffy.
Our experience at Rhodes W1 was overwhelmingly positive. The service was great, the atmosphere calm and the food sublime. What more could you want?
The Bill: £60 per head
